This chapter examines the relationship between students' perceptions of teacher-
student relations and their academic achievement. Using panel data drawn from the
National Educational Longitudinal Survey of 1988, the authors explore the degree
to which teacher-student relations, measured as teacher expectations and teacher
supportiveness at grades 10 and 12, influence 12th-grade students' educational
investments and academic achievement. Multiple regression is used first to model
the effects of students' perceptions of their relationships with teachers as predictors
of their investment behaviors, and then to analyze the concurrent effects of teacher-
student relations and student investments on academic achievement. Research on
teacher-student interaction provides the conceptual framework guiding this study.
The authors find consistent evidence that teacher-student relations have a positive
and significant influence on adolescents' educational investments, measured as
school conduct, classroom preparation, and avoidance of maladaptive behaviors.
The authors also find that positive teacher-student relations and prosocial
investment behaviors among students enhance academic achievement, measured as
both standardized test scores and grade point averages. The regression results
remain constant when controlling on background characteristics of students such as
their race/ethnicity, gender, prior learning, and socioeconomic status, as well as
contextual factors such as school sector and academic track. Implications for
research and practice are discussed.

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